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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
M. L.
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01077 2991
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THE UNITED STATES
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
AND
PORTRAIT GALLERY
OF
EMINENT AND SELF-MADE MEN.
IOWA VOLUME.
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK: AMERICAN BIOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1878.
PRESS OF KNIGHT & LEONARD $
CHICAGO
1441171
PREFACE.
H ISTORY, one of the most interesting and instructive studies of modern ages, is composed in a large part of biographies of men made great by their own heroic and noble exertions. Guided by the philosophic principle that all men are, in a great measure, architects of their own destinies, and that the laudable example of those who have honorably won their way to success will ever inspire the struggling mass of humanity to greater effort and nobler aspira- tions, the publishers of this volume here present some of the most prominent facts and incidents in the lives of the leading citizens of Iowa, who have, to a great extent, made the history of this state.
In selecting names for the BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY, the publishers have aimed to give a life-like sketch of the representatives of the various interests of the state: the professional men, the business men, the agriculturists, and indeed all who have taken part in the intellectual, political and material progress of the people. All that lavish expense and untiring labor could do in obtaining and compiling the material has been done. That the work is perfect, the publishers do not flatter themselves. A few persons, unfamiliar with the importance of the work, have failed to furnish the requisite information ; others, from vain pride, have refused ; others, again, who are worthy citizens, have, from a false modesty, refused to give particulars-all forgetting that in a few years their names, with- out a record, will be lost in oblivion, and their posterity deprived of the gratifi- cation and advantage of reference to an honorable ancestry. However, it is claimed, and justly, too, that this is the best publication of the kind ever offered to the public. It is durably and elegantly gotten up; profusely illustrated with por- traits, in which the accuracy of photographic art is transferred to steel by the best engravers of England and America; and withal is a work which, as the added years go by, will grow in importance and be more highly prized by all who may fortunately possess it, and especially by the friends and relatives of those enrolled upon its pages.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
IOITA VOLUME.
HON. JAMES W. GRIMES, BURLINGTON.
A MONG the men whose personal history is in- separably interwoven with that of the state, and whose name deserves a foremost rank, is James Wilson Grimes. He was born in the town of Deer- ing, Hillsborough county, New Hampshire, on the 20th of October, 1816, and was of Scotch-Irish de - scent, his ancestors emigrating to this country from north Ireland, to which place they had previously emigrated with a colony from Argyleshire, Scotland. His parents, John Grimes and Elizabeth née Wilson, were also natives of Deering, New Hampshire. Of a family of eight children born to them, James was the youngest. In early childhood he evinced a taste for learning, attending the district school and also studying Latin and Greek under the instruction of the village pastor. He completed his preparation for college at Hampton Academy, and entered Dart- mouth College in August, 1832, in the sixteenth year of his age. Upon leaving college in February, 1835, he commenced reading law with James Walker, Esq., in Petersborough, New Hampshire. Being young and adventurous, and wishing to carve a for- tune for himself, he left his native home in 1836 for the far west, landing in Burlington, then a new town in what was known as the "Black Hawk Purchase." Here he opened an office and soon established a reputation as a rising lawyer. In April, 1837, he was appointed city solicitor, and, entering upon the duties of that office, assisted in drawing up the first police laws of the town. In 1838 he was appointed justice of the peace, and became a law partner of William W. Chapman, United States district attorney for Wisconsin Territory. In the early part of the year 1841 he formed a partnership with Henry W.
Starr, Esq., which continued twelve years. This firm stood at the head of the legal profession in Iowa. Mr. Grimes was widely known as a counselor of superior knowledge of the law, and with a clear sense of truth and justice. Mr. Grimes was chosen one of the representatives of Des Moines county in the first legislative assembly of the Territory of Iowa, which convened at Burlington on the 12th of Novem- ber, 1838; in the sixth, at Iowa City, on the 4th of December, 1843 ; and in the fourth general assembly of the state, at Iowa City, on the 6th of December, 1852. He early took front rank among the public men of Iowa. He was chairman of the judiciary committee in the house of representatives of the first legislative assembly of the Territory of Iowa, and all laws for the new territory passed through his hands.
Mr. Grimes was married to Miss Elizabeth Sarah Neally, at Burlington, on the 9th of November, 1846. He always took an active part in all movements for the advancement of education and reform.
In February, 1854, Mr. Grimes was nominated by a convention of the whig party for governor of the state. It was the largest state convention of that party ever held in Iowa, and the last. He assumed the dutics of the office in December, 1854. Soon after his election it was proposed that he should be sent to the United States senate, but he made it un- derstood that he should fill the term of office for which he had been chosen, and he served his full term to the entire satisfaction and acceptance of all parties. He was a faithful leader in the political regeneration of the state. He introduced liberal measures to develop the resources of the state and to promote the interests of all educational and hu-
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mane establishments. Up to the time of his election as governor democracy reigned supreme in the terri- tory. The representatives in congress were allies of the slave power. He, after being elected, gave his whole soul to the work, and it may truly be said that Governor Grimes made Iowa republican and allied it with the loyal states. On the 14th of January, 1858, he laid down his office only to be placed in another and greater one. On the 25th of January of the same year he was nominated by the republican caucus for United States senator. He took his seat in the senate on the 4th of March, 1859, and was placed upon the committee on naval affairs on the 24th of January, 1861, on which he remained during the rest of his senatorial career, serving as chairman from December, 1864, and giving close attention to all matters referred to this body. He was early known as an active, earnest and able working mem- ber of the senate. He was a close observer of every military and naval movement, and a fine judge of the official capacity and skill of the different command- ers. Knowing the resolution and determination of the southern leaders in the rebellion, he advocated the prompt and vigorous prosecution of the war. The navy was his favorite arm of service, he con- sidering it the stronghold of public defense.
Mr Grimes voted for the Pacific Railroad bill on the 20th of June, 1862, and for establishing the gauge of the road, from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, at four feet eight and a half inches, on the 18th of February, 1863.
On the 16th of January Mr. Grimes was again chosen United States senator from Iowa for six years from March, 1865, receiving the votes of all the members of the general assembly, in joint conven- tion, but six ; one hundred and twenty-eight out of one hundred and thirty-four. His counsel was often sought in matters of great moment and in cases of peculiar difficulty. Always ready to promote the
welfare of the state, he gave, unsolicited, land worth six thousand dollars to the Congregational College at Grinnell. It constitutes the "Grimes Founda- tion," and is " to be applied to the establishment and maintenance in Iowa College, forever, of four scholar- ships, to be awarded by the trustees, on the recom- mendation of the faculty, to the best scholars, and the most promising, in any department, who may need and seek such aid, and without any regard to the religious tenets or opinions entertained by any person seeking either of said scholarships." These terms were imposed by Mr. Grimes and assumed on the 20th of July, 1865, by the trustees. He received the honorary degree of LL.D., in 1865, from Dart- mouth College, and also from Iowa College. He also aided in founding a public library in Burlington, donating five thousand dollars, which was expended in the purchase of costly books, and subsequently sent from Europe two hundred and fifty-six volumes in the German language, and also contributed six hundred volumes of public documents.
In January, 1869, he made a donation of five thousand dollars to Dartmouth College, and one thousand dollars to the "Social Friend," a literary society of which he-was a member when in college.
His health failing, Mr. Grimes sailed for Europe on the 14th of April, 1869, remaining abroad two years, reaching home on the 22d of September, 187 1, apparently in improved health and spirits. In No- vember he celebrated his silver wedding, and spent the closing months of his life with his family. He voted at the city election on the 5th of February, and upon the evening of the 7th of February, 1872, was suddenly attacked with severe pains in the region of the heart, and died after a few short hours of intense suffering. A post-mortem examination revealed or- ganic disease of the heart. He was mourned by many as a man of ability, integrity and public spirit, who fearlessly fulfilled whatever he deemed his duty.
HON. HENRY J. B. CUMMINGS, WINTERSET.
H ENRY J. B. CUMMINGS, member of con- gress from the seventh Iowa district, was born in Newton, Sussex county, New Jersey, on the 21st of May, 1831. His father, Colonel Heman I. C'um- mings, was a native of Litchfield county, Connecti- cut, and a man of moderate means. His mother's
maiden name was Ann Garton Johnson. Henry was the eldest child. He had a brother, Louis Jerome, three years younger, who died in Winterset on the ist of August, 1856, of disease contracted by expos- ure, while with General James Lane, in efforts to make Kansas a free state. He was a young man of
the fo
H.G.B. Cummings
Engªby DREal & Sons 13 Bar. .. ? NY
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
patriotic and noble impulses, of considerable culture and ability.
The subject of this sketch is great-great-grandson of General Daniel Brodhead, who was one of the generals in the revolutionary war, the friend and confidant of General Washington, by whom he was assigned to the command of Fort Pitt, now Pitts- burgh. General Brodhead was enabled to maintain peace with the Indians in western Pennsylvania and Ohio, in great part by the confidence they had in him. They made him one of their chiefs, and gave him the name of Great Moon. In the family is pre- served a Masonic apron worn by General Brodhead in the lodge of which Washington was at the time master, and several letters written to him by Wash- ington.
In 1840 Heman L. Cummings moved with his family from New Jersey to Muncy, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, and Henry received his education in the common schools of that state, supplementing it with a year's study in a private school. He then spent a year or two in the pineries of Lycoming county, most of the time making a hand in a saw- mill. Like many young men who have subsequently gone to congress, he felt called upon to teach a pub- lic school; but two months' experience convinced him that he could not excel as a pedagogue, and that ended his services as a teacher.
In 1848 he commenced the study of law, reading a year and a half, when, having a natural taste for printing, he went, in 1849, to Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, where he made an agreement to learn the trade in the office of the "Schuylkill Haven Map," he to commence as "devil," and to serve three years, but his name was to appear as associate editor. After about a year his uncle, Henry Johnson, a lawyer of large practice and great reputation, a prominent state senator in Pennsylvania during the civil war, and now practicing in Des Moines, Iowa, purchased the office, and the paper was edited and managed exclusively by his nephew, assisted by his brother, who here joined him. This arrange- ment continued until the autumn of 1852, when Henry returned to Muncy and finished his law studies in the office of his uncle just mentioned, being admitted to the bar early in 1854.
Late in the next year Mr. Cummings started for Iowa, crossing the Mississippi river on the ice on the Ist of January, 1856. He went directly to Win- terset, Madison county, and immediately opened an office. The anti-Nebraska party had carried Iowa
in the autumn before, and early in the spring of 1856 the republican party was being organized in the state. Mr. Cummings joined with others in call- ing a public meeting to organize the county. The meeting was largely attended, but only eight persons would assist in the organization. Mr. Cummings also aided in organizing Adair and Cass counties, and, with others, thoroughly canvassed these coun- ties before the election. He was nominated by the republicans of Madison county that year for prose- cuting attorney, and was elected, holding the office two years and three months, at the end of which time it was abolished by the new constitution of the state. He held the office of mayor of Winterset for two terms.
On the 4th of March, 1857, at Muncy, Pennsyl- vania, Mr. Cummings was married to Miss Annie Webster Robb, youngest daughter of William F. and Mary Robb, of the last named place. They have one daughter, Laura Justina, who was married in November, 1876, to James W. Miller, at present one of the editors of the Winterset " Madisonian."
Mr. Cummings continued the practice of the law until the breaking out of the rebellion, when, after the firing on Fort Sumter, a company of home guards was organized at Winterset, and he was elected cap- tain. Governor Kirkwood having notified him that it was desired that Madison county should furnish a company of men for the United States military service. Captain Cummings immediately reorgan- ized his company, and in July, 1861, acting under orders from the governor, he took his company to Council Bluffs, where it became company F of the 4th Iowa Infantry, Colonel G. M. Dodge, commander of the regiment. While in camp there, at a meeting of the officers of the regiment, Captain Cummings was recommended to be commissioned major, but as the two field officers already appointed were re- publicans, the governor concluded it would be better to take a democrat for the third office, and on that ground declined to appoint Captain Cummings. He continued with his company until, as part of General Samuel R. Curtis' army, it reached Helena, Arkansas, in 1862. After the battle of Pea Ridge, Missouri, in March of that year, his superiors in rank having been wounded or being absent, he fell into command as ranking captain of the regiment, and command- ed it on its march through southern Missouri and northern Arkansas to Batesville. Captain Cummings readily acquainted himself thoroughly with the mili- tary rules and regulations, and this fact was recog-
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
nized in his appointment several times as judge ad- vocate of important courts-martial. He was a strict disciplinarian, considerate of his men, and one of the best drill-officers in the service. A good trait of his character in the field was that he was always strictly temperate and never profane.
On reaching Helena. Captain Cummings returned to Iowa on sick leave, but bearing a letter from Gen- eral Curtis to Governor Kirkwood, asking the latter to advance the captain in one of the new regiments then forming. The governor commissioned him col- onel of the 39th Infantry. The regiment rendez- voused first at Des Moines, and then at Davenport. In November, 1862, Colonel Cummings was ordered to report at Corinth, Mississippi, where he was as- signed to the command of that post. There he had charge of three regiments, the white refugees com- ing into the federal lines, and the contrabands, the last being employed in running a cotton plantation. When he took the post it was considerably in debt, but he soon paid off that indebtedness, and when he was relieved there were several thousand dollars in its treasury. The colonel was regarded as pecu- liarly fitted for post duty, and had several important commands of that nature, among them at Culleoka, Tennessee; Athens, Alabama; Rome, Georgia, and, as above stated, at Corinth, Mississippi.
His regiment joined the army advancing on At- lanta, at Chattanooga, and was the first that went through the Snake Creek Gap in the movement flanking Dalton. When the army reached Kingston the brigade to which his regiment belonged was stationed at Rome, Georgia, and remained there on the flank during the entire siege of Atlanta. It also was part of Sherman's army that marched to the sea.
Having served three and a half years, Colonel Cummings mustered out on the ist of January, 1865, and returned to Winterset. In 1869 he purchased the Winterset " Madisonian," and has been connect- ed with it ever since. As a journalist, he has been a success, making the Winterset " Madisonian " rank among the ablest country papers in the state, popu- larizing it at home by making home news a specialty, and giving the agricultural interest of the county due prominence. He seems to know by intuition what the needs of his readers are, and has the ability to meet their wants to their satisfaction. As a writer, his style is not ornate, but simple, clear and forcible.
In November, 1876, he was elected to congress in one of the strongest republican districts, carrying every one of the ten counties in his district, and hay-
ing a majority of nearly eight thousand votes over his democratic competitor, Samuel J. Gilpin, Esq., with whom he held nearly forty joint discussions. As a public speaker, he is more logical than fluent. He makes no claim to being an orator, yet has good command of language. Whatever is necessary he can say on any occasion, and say it well and forcibly. His manner is dignified and impressive, his words are always well chosen, and his ideas are expressed on the rostrum as clearly and forcibly as in his edi- torials. He has the air of frankness and truth, and so impresses his hearers. In the joint canvass spo- ken of his friends were more than satisfied.
He is a member of the committee on claims, one of the most important and responsible committees of the house. The following extract from an edi- torial letter to the Des Moines "Daily Register " is given to show his standing as a congressman :
Our own member, Colonel Cummings, is making a good name for himself quietly and not slowly. He is a close student of the house and its rules, and is always in his seat. No one keeps a better run of the business in the house, or has a clearer head in regard to anything that is going on. He looks after details industriousty, and in all the depart- ments has already formed a popular acquaintance with the powers that be,- which is one of the wisest things that a congressman anxious to serve his district can do. I predict that in caring for the interests of the district, and in serving promptly and well all his constituents who have affairs here to attend to, Colonel Cummings will be found the equal of any man that the former fighting, but now Quaker, district of Iowa has ever had. In the house, too, he will be equally faithful and vigilant, and guard with jealous eve and intel- ligent zeal the public good. The colonel and his amiable and entertaining wife have cozy quarters at the Ebbitt house, where lowa people will always find a cordial welcome, and seventh district folks meet the unaffected cheer and hospi- tality of home.
.On the Ist of April, 1878, he made his first speech in the house; it was in opposition to the payment of southern war claims. The speech was widely copied and highly commended by the press of the state.
As a citizen, Colonel Cummings stands well. He is always ready to take a part in every enterprise for the benefit of the public. He has been active and prominent in all measures for the public good; his special forte, in fact, is in his executive ability.
He is a prominent member of the Masonic order, and has been for years active in the grand lodge of the state, being at one time chairman of the com- mittee on foreign correspondence. He was selected by that body to prepare a Masonic digest for the state; has served many years as master of his lodge, and has attained to the rank of Knight Templar.
Prior to the organization of the republican party he was a whig. For a long time he has been one of
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
the leaders of his party in Madison county. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church.
The colonel has a high reputation for integrity, his word being a sure guarantee of performance. By careful and prudent management he has placed him- self in very comfortable circumstances.
Colonel Cummings is five feet and nine and a half inches tall, and weighs 217 pounds. His hair, which was light when a young man, is almost white; his complexion is fair, and his disposition cheerful and social. He can enjoy a joke,- the best when not on himself.
HON. JOHN Y. STONE,
GLEN WOOD.
J OHN YOUNG STONE, speaker of the house in the seventeenth general assembly, and one of the leading republicans of the younger class in the State of Iowa, is a native of Sangamon county, Illi- nois, and was born on the 23d of April, 1843. His parents were William L. and Mary Ann (McLemore) Stone, members of nature's nobility, the agricultural class. The branch of the Stone family from which our subject sprang early settled in Virginia and spread into Kentucky and Illinois. In 1856 Will- iam L. Stone moved into the southwestern part of Iowa, settling on a farm in Mills county, where the son not only gained a thorough knowledge of agri- culture, but of the condition, rights and wants of the agriculturist - knowledge which has since led him to heartily sympathize with this class of the community, and to advocate their claims in public life with an earnestness as eloquent as it was sin- cere, as effective as it was timely. A writer in the "Iowa State Register " of the 22d of January, 1878, thus spoke of speaker Stone on this point :
No man, old or young, knows better the whole Iowa peo- ple, their real character, worth and virtues, than John Y. Stone. For he has sprung from their own ranks, and is prouder of his origin than ever royal heir was of family pedigree or inherited title. He thus gained in early life that complete acquaintance with the people and their true interests, which is of more value to a public man and statesman than the graces of college or the polish of the arts. It is this nearness to the masses, and the true heart and ready hand he has ever borne in their interest, which have made him so strong in their defense, and so popular as a leader in their cause. It was a good tutelage, his life on the farm. It cultivated his breadth and liberality of character, his strength of will, his honesty and intrepidity of purpose.
Six months after the civil war broke out, in Octo- ber, 1861, young Stone enlisted as a private in com- pany F, 15th Iowa Infantry ; was promoted to sec- ond lientenant near the close of the next year, and was in all the battles in which General Crocker's famous Iowa brigade participated, and was with it in Sherman's great march to the sea. Those who
served with him and knew him best give him credit for great courage on the battle-field. On the 21st and 22d of July, 1864, in the great battles before Atlanta, Georgia, when a staff officer, he had three horses killed under him. He was in the hottest of the strife, near General McPherson when that gal- lant and heroic commander fell mortally wounded. The war developed the manly traits of Lieutenant Stone's character, and fitted him in part for eminent usefulness in the less exciting sphere of civil life.
In October, 1865, after studying law, he was ad- mitted to the practice of that profession, making Glenwood his home. He rose rapidly at the bar, soon taking a leading rank, which he still holds. After his admission he attracted the notice of the people, who were quick to discover his adaptation for legislative work, and in the autumn of 1867, at the age of twenty-four, he was elected to the lower house of the general assembly. He labored so faithfully for the interests of his constituents, and made in all respects so creditable a record, that at the end of his term he was returned to the same branch of the legislature. At the end of his second term he was elected to the upper house, and when this term of four years was ended his constituents sent him a third time to the lower house. In that session, the sixteenth of the general assembly, he was made a candidate for speaker, and was beaten by Hon. John H. Gear, now governor of the state. During that session he was chairman of the judici- ary committee, and the unquestioned leader of the house. In 1877 the constituents of Mr. Stone elected him a fifth time to the legislature; and when his term shall have expired, on the 31st of Decem- ber, 1879, it will make twelve consecutive years that he has been a member. Long before the seven- teenth general assembly now in session had met, it was evident that the leader of the house in the six- teenth, and the powerful competitor of Governor
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